Power problems?

[special_ed]

Just finished building a budget/mainstream desktop from some leftover parts plus a few components I picked up cheap. (this is not my first build), Power-wise everything seems fine at first. BIOS screen came up, optical and hard drives detected, set to boot from optical drive, keyboard working. When I attempt to install windows 7 (32 bit) from disc, the computer powers off during installation. No error messages or warning beeps as afar as I can tell. The motherboard beeps once when I turn it on, so the internal sound is working. The first few times it powered off while the 'windows is loading files' screen was displayed. Once I got as far as selecting language for installation, and option to install, with windows 7 splash screen and then powered off again. I'm using the back up disc MS mailed me after I downloaded the installation file for windows 7 onto another pc. Could it be the power supply? The power unit is about five years old, part of the case from an old store bought pc.

Specs:

MOBO - MSI G31TM-P21 mainboard
Pentium Dual Core Processor E5200
Nvidia Geforce 9400
2 X 1GB sdram (DDR2)
Max combined power of power unit is 350w
IDE optical drive (part of original pc)
SATA hard drive.

Everything appears to be connected up OK and detected, it just keeps dying during installation, should I just get a newer power supply with a bit more oomph? Thanks in advance

[zburns]

Here is the link to your MCI mobo page: http://us.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=&cat3_no=&prod_no=1869

According to the data on the "Overview Page" the E5200 processor is not supported. If this is true, this alone could be your problem.

Does your PSU Label say it is for ATX components; your mobo is a micro ATX board which means the PSU must be designed for ATX components; the design would include the correct cable breakout and pinouts according to ATX specs.

Does your PSU have a mfg name and model number? If you google it, you should be able to find out if it is for ATX components.

[special_ed]

Here is the link to your MCI mobo page: http://us.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=&cat3_no=&prod_no=1869

According to the data on the "Overview Page" the E5200 processor is not supported. If this is true, this alone could be your problem.

Does your PSU Label say it is for ATX components; your mobo is a micro ATX board which means the PSU must be designed for ATX components; the design would include the correct cable breakout and pinouts according to ATX specs.

Does your PSU have a mfg name and model number? If you google it, you should be able to find out if it is for ATX components.
Thanks for the advice. Turns out it was a bit of both (Mobo and psu. I exchanged the motherboard for one that was definitely compatible with my processor and this time OS installed fine. Still had a couple of power problems (more than 2 USB devices and the whole thing powered off again), so I got a new psu and now everything's OK. Thanks again.
Side note: any reason why this board loads slower than molasses?

[special_ed]

Here is the link to your MCI mobo page: http://us.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=&cat3_no=&prod_no=1869

According to the data on the "Overview Page" the E5200 processor is not supported. If this is true, this alone could be your problem.

Does your PSU Label say it is for ATX components; your mobo is a micro ATX board which means the PSU must be designed for ATX components; the design would include the correct cable breakout and pinouts according to ATX specs.

Does your PSU have a mfg name and model number? If you google it, you should be able to find out if it is for ATX components.
Thanks for the advice. Turns out it was a bit of both (Mobo and psu. I exchanged the motherboard for one that was definitely compatible with my processor and this time OS installed fine. Still had a couple of power problems (more than 2 USB devices and the whole thing powered off again), so I got a new psu and now everything's OK. Thanks again.
Side note: any reason why this board loads slower than molasses?

[zburns]

How long is the delay? The next is all just a logical "guess". If you replaced the first mobo which was a micro ATX board with another microATX mobo, that may be the reason. The physically smaller board may not allow the circuitry that facilitates boot time such as that on a larger "standard size" ATX mobo.

Glad you got it going!!

[The Wise Monkey]

Hah, I think special_ed is talking about the forum rather than their motherboard!

We don't know quite why it is so slow, but it does tend to come and go. We have a thread going for reporting problems so we can try and work out if there is a pattern to it.

[zburns]

Can you provide the model # and mfg of the motherboard you are using. I assume it is new!

[special_ed]

Can you provide the model # and mfg of the motherboard you are using. I assume it is new!

Wise Monkey was right - I was referring to speed that pages on this message board load, the mobo I installed is AOK. Thanks for all the helpful feedback anyway!!